Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 03:32, 3 November 2009

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Niles and Sutherland Report was a report commissioned by the United States Congress in 1919 to investigate conditions in the Ottoman Empire's eastern provinces in the aftermath of World War I, and to assess what sort of aid was needed and whether that aid could be provided by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East (Near East Relief). It was prepared by Captain Emory H. Niles of the United States Army and Arthur E. Sutherland Jr., and was based on their investigations at the city of Van and its vicinity.

Niles and Sutherland's inspection of Eastern Turkey was loosely coordinated with that of General James Harbord's larger and more expansive American Military Mission to Armenia which had been instructed to "investigate and report on the political, military, geographic, administrative, economic, and such other considerations involved in possible American interests and responsibilities in the region". The Harbord Commission did not travel to Bitlis and Van, instead relying on information provided in Niles and Sutherland's report .

From Aleppo Niles and Sutherland travelled by rail to Mardin, arriving there on 3 July 1919, where they engaged Osman Rohi, a Turkish medical student, as their interpreter. The journey to Bitlis and Van was done on horseback, accompanied by a guard of Turkish soldiers. Their itinerary included Van, the Lake Region, Erzurum, Erzincan, Kara Kilissa and Shebbin Kara Hisar. Because of difficulties in transportation, war damage, lack of roads, automobiles, gasoline, and sickness, they had to make changes in the trip plan occasionally. In some areas where they saw no real war damage, such as between Erzincan and Shebbin Kara Hisar, or where ACRNE is already active, such as Trabizond, they did not spend much time.

Arriving by horseback at the city of Van in the summer of 1919, they were the first outsiders to see Van since the end of World War I. The two Americans estimated that there were maybe five thousand inhabitants in the city at the time, and close to one hundred thousand in the whole province.

Van's Armenians who were approximately a quarter of the city population were gone and only 700 were left and they had to be protected by the soldiers from the vengeance of the Muslims. They reported that almost all of the Muslims were refugees who had escaped the invading Russians and Armenians, then returned when the Russians pulled back. They told of immense death and destruction in the hands of Armenians and in fact as Niles and Sutherland witnessed, the Muslim sections of Van and Bitlis were completely demolished while the rest, mostly Armenian neighborhoods were mostly intact. This was in great contrast to the reports received by the American public during the War by the Armenians and the missionaries in the area friendly to them. Yet according to the Harbord Report, generally Armenian property was found to be in ruins. Two thirds of the pre-war Muslim population was no longer in Van after the war. This important and ancient Ottoman city now had no shops, no schools and no markets or warehouses left; only two hospitals were kept open by the efforts of the governor. Much of the city had to be rebuilt.

Justin McCarthy has written that he found a draft copy of the report "by accident" among the documents of the Harbord Commission held in the Library of Congress , and that he believes it to be the only surviving copy, and that all other copies, including the originals of their interviews with locals, have been either lost or more likely destroyed. .

External links

• http://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2005/07/67-captain-emory-niles-and-mr-arthur.html
• http://commons.wikimedia.org/File:Report_of_Niles_and_Sutherland_-_Investigation_through_Eastern_Turkish_Vilayets.pdf a full copy of the report.

References

1. U.S. National Archives, 184.021/175
2. "Niles and Sutherland Report", Justin McCarthy, Kongreye Sunulan Bildiriler: X1. Turk Tarih Kongresi, Ankara, 1990, pp. 1809-1853
3. Harbord, James G., Report of the American Military Mission to Armenia, (Government Printing Office, 1920), 3.
4. "All of the vilayets (provinces) of Turkish Armenia were visited except Van and Bitlis, which were inaccessible in the time available, but which have been covered by Captain Niles, an army officer who inspected them on horseback in August, and whose report corroborates the observations in the neighboring regions.35 (Footnote: Harbord in 184,02102/5, p. 2.)
5. Harbord, James G., Report of the American Military Mission to Armenia, (Government Printing Office, 1920), 8.
6. The Armenian Rebellion At Van", Justin McCarthy et.al., University of Utah Press, 2006, pp. 233-257
7. "The Armenian Rebellion At Van", Justin McCarthy et.al., University of Utah Press, 2006, pp. 1-2
8. "The Armenian Rebellion At Van", Justin McCarthy et.al., University of Utah Press, 2006, pp. 2

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from August 2009
• History of the United States
• Reports of the United States government